Safe!

For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; it is He who will save us. Isaiah 33:22

American Idol is on tonight! In addition to entertainment and joint focus for our family, it provides an apt illustration of this Scripture. Reid predicted Scotty McCreery as last year's winner and this year we're rooting for Joshua.

At first glance I did not link those 3 titles--judge, lawgiver, and king--with the concept of saving. Condemnation comes to mind before rescue. Certainly the three outline our judicial system and represent a triune God. But then I recalled how the American Idol judges graphically illustrate "the save." One save per season. Last year it was especially dramatic with Casey (click to view). We sit on pins and needles, braving the commercials, sweating each of Ryan Seacrest's fakes to see who will be cut each week. And then whether the judges will use their one save of the season or not.

The Bible is clear about God being judge. That's a relief! I don't have to concern myself with doling out criticism or seeing all sides of an issue. It's also clear on how to be saved.

Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Acts 16:30-31

I feel for those American Idol contestants under the immense pressure of rejection. As each one gets cut, I pray they remember the difference between the judges and the Judge. It's easy to misplace our fear of the Lord. We will be inevitably defeated by the fear of man.

Not to put autism completely aside, we idolized our home program case manager. She was a godsend when Reid was 5 yrs. old. Her passion was to support families, especially moms in the early diagnosis stage. She was gifted at setting up a program, staffing, training, listening and walking alongside those in the midst of the initial panic and information gathering that marks that phase. I don't know how she put up with me--on the phone or my doorstep ranting and neurosing for hours on end.

She shared with me once that as much as she loved it, there was a pitfall. Emotionally desperate moms (myself included) tended to set her up as a "savior." She arrived on the scene with answers and seemed able to save their child from certain demise. This was a danger for her, since she knew that was not true. And also for them, since she was not omniscient, omnipotent, nor Savior. She could help, but she could not save even one of them.

Having made this mistake in degrees with others after her, I have finally learned that no therapist, drug, diet, or intervention can save Reid. God, the God who designed our sense of smell, heals sensory integration disorder. God, the one who knows our every thought, knows the mind of a even the nonverbal child with autism. No expert, no matter how expensive or experienced, can direct us as well as God can through His Holy Spirit. Don't give them the power that is God's alone, to save....from autism or any other human condition, including death itself.

The insanely good news is that Jesus has more than one save per season!! He came to save us all.

‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' Acts 2:20-22

Correlated with Children of Destiny's Turning the Tide! Prayer calendar for April.

Testify!

Yikes, its April and we all know what that means. Even those without the diagnosis are thinking about autism. Admittedly, it feels a bit like St. Patrick's Day to me. I can feel the cynicism bubbling up like a briny bucket of corned beef and cabbage. As my husband says, (he has Irish citizenship mind you), "I don't have to wear green I'll be Irish tomorrow."

Gratefully this year, Holy Week is trumping World Autism Awareness Day in my thoughts. Just the same, I pray without ceasing and the best way I know to celebrate Autism Awareness month is to participate in Children of Destiny's Turning the Tide Prayer Thrust. You can print out their month of daily prompts or "like" them on Facebook.

As soon as I clicked there this morning to see Ephesians 3:20--the verse on our adoption letter 17 years ago--I broke into song: "How can I keep from singing your praise?! How can I ever say enough? How amazing is your LOVE!!!"

A plan revealed itself. This year April 2012, I'd like testify to answered prayer! God is answering those prayers, daily, monthly, annually, through our lives. As we lift them up in trust, He is turning the tide. He is answering. Lest the stones cry out, I'd like to give testimony to the ways He is answering at our house. God keeps His promises in our autism-laced lives.

The Passover Seder is a ritual re-telling of how God delivered His people from the bondage of slavery in Egypt. At a certain point in the scripted object lesson, guests around the dinner table recite the specific things God did on their behalf followed by a hearty, "Dayenu!" proclaiming in Hebrew "that would have been enough!"

Two years ago in April 2010 I set out to post a prayer a day. Somewhere around the 10th, all hell broke loose in our house and we were thrown into a harrowing crisis I have yet to recount publicly. It came flooding back to me today marked as it was by coinciding with autism awareness month and this same prayer calendar. That seems a fitting place to start:

That you kept Reid out of a psych hospital...that would have been enough!

That you sent people two by two in prayer vigil with us....Dayenu!

That musicians came to soothe his spirit as he dried out from wrong meds...Dayenu!

That you assigned total strangers to pray for us in new ways.....that would have been enough!

That you parted IEP waters in a single stroke to allow a miraculous change of

schools....Dayenu!

That he is no longer in a pressure cooker of behavior mod and physical restraint but a nurturing community of redemptive grace....Dayenu!

That you replaced my worst fear with new faith...Dayenu!

That you showed me who you really are in the wee hours of the night......that would have been enough!

That you've kept my marriage together through years of stubborn neglect and thrashing.....Dayenu!

That you didn't just deliver Reid, but each of us in the process.....Dayenu!

That I am not the same...that would have been enough!

That my husband's heart is transformed.....Dayenu!

That Allie sees you're real...that would have been enough!

That the boy who I was once told might not write his name, went through 3 composition notebooks yesterday handwriting lists of his favorite things....Dayenu!

That Reid has a ministry to others...that would have been enough!

That you've given Allie more not less through these trials....Dayenu!

That you blessed us with two babies not just one...that would have been enough!

That we can call you Father by a spirit of adoption....Dayenu!

That you still show your glory through healing...that would have been enough!

That you communicate intimately with your people...Dayenu!

That You give us the very faith to believe there is yet more blessing in store....that is enough!

That you are good and your love endures...Dayenu!

Now glory be to God, who by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more that we would ever dare to ask or even dream of--infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes." Ephesians 3:19-21 The Living Bible

Correlated with Turning the Tide! Children of Destiny's Prayer Thrust for the month of April